And Wednesday, June 11, after a brutal winter and an infestation of rose rosette disease decimated the resident rose bushes, the festival will help the garden itself.

Proceeds will fund the Garden Renewal Project, a year-long restoration undertaken by the Saginaw Rose and Garden Society, the Saginaw Valley Hosta Association, the Saginaw Branch of the Woman's National Farm and Garden Association and master gardeners.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 11, 30 vendors will fill the garden at 120 Ezra Rust with their wares, such as Janet Cesar's solar garden lights, Lynette Fouch Bugenske's ferns and perennials and Julie Paul's nature photography. The free event includes a luncheon served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., featuring its signature strawberry shortcake, a silent auction and a raffle.

Throughout the day, visitors also can attend workshops on everything from growing hostas and perennials to container gardening and, appropriately enough, rose care.

"When we started renovating the building more than 20 years ago, Frank Andersen created the garden in his memory of his wife Lucille," said Director of Marketing Marsha Braun. "We still have a plaque with her picture on it, set in stone, in a bed of her favorite roses."

Originally, the garden included roses from the Andersens' home garden, but those have since died out, added Business Manager Lori Rittenberry. Others brought over from the former rose garden by Saginaw Water Treatment Plant are showing their age.

Already, Braun said, more than 75 hostas in a variety of styles are in place and other groups are replacing perennials and annuals more receptive to the shade created by the bordering ring of trees planted as saplings 21 years ago.

"Peonies are good choice," said Rittenberry, Braun adding that the garden will fill with blooms in time for Wednesday's festival.

One of the biggest casualties of last winter's freezing temperatures are the climbing roses, said Clint Bremer, one of the master consulting rosarians spearheading the project. At this point, he said, no decision has been made whether they will replace them or substitute a hardier plant.

But they have big plans for the rest of the garden.

"I was 14 when they started the gardens and I remember roses so big that I couldn't fit my hands around them," Bremer said. "The beds were five feet across and five feet tall. That's what we want to bring back, recapturing the essence. It's a fixture in Saginaw; everyone knows about the rose garden."

Now 34, he's mapping out monochromatic plots, each adopted by a member of the rose society, that blend into one another. They're looking at the hardier roses developed since the garden was first built, including hybrids that combine a couple of colors, perfect, say, for moving from a red to an orange plot.

Watch for shrubs that bloom throughout the summer as well as hybrid teas and others that break into brilliant blooms between quiet rests.

And it will include the late Lucille E. Andersen's beloved peace roses around her plaque. But that will come after the bleach poured into the holes left by the diseased roses already removed destroy the mites that turn the bushes into something resembling a witch's broom.

Now it's a matter of getting the necessary funds to follow through. While the gardeners are largely volunteering their services, the different fertilizers and various repellents run into the hundreds.

Then comes the price of the plants.

"We have five beds that will hold 10 rose bushes each and they cost $20 each," said Bremer, adding that the center welcomes donations toward the cause. "One of our guys, John Bradley, comes out every Saturday and clears out the beds and prunes everything. We're all big advocates."